The FBI search for the man accused of abducting a woman in Oregon and sexually assaulting her: A dating app activity alerted Foster to his alleged crimes
The suspect accused of brutally beating and kidnapping a woman in Oregon remains on the run and is in a critical condition, according to police.
While Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, has evaded capture since Tuesday, police say he is still active on dating apps. The Grants Pass Police Department warns he may be using the apps to find potential new victims or manipulate them into helping him escape.
Investigators have been searching for Foster since Tuesday after they found a woman bound and beaten into unconsciousness in a residence in Grants Pass, police said. The suspect, identified by investigators as Foster, had already fled by the time police arrived, the department said.
Prosecutors accuse Foster of trying to kill the victim while “intentionally torturing” her, according to charging documents obtained by CNN affiliate KDRV. Hensman said Thursday that the victim had been enduring the alleged abuses for a “protracted amount of time.”
The victim is in a local hospital and in a critical condition, police said. The victim was being provided security by the police as of Thursday.
Police are asking the public to give them tips on the suspect’s location. In a statement Sunday, the department said people should pay particular attention to his eyes and facial structure, as they believe he may try to alter his appearance by changing the cut or color of his hair and beard.
People shouldn’t approach the extremely dangerous suspect and should call the police, police said in a statement. Foster could be armed according to authorities.
The victim in that case told police Foster strangled her several times and kept her tied up for most of the following two weeks, a Las Vegas police report said. When she was finally able to escape to a hospital, she had seven broken ribs, two black eyes and abrasions to her wrists and ankles from being tied up, the report said.
A judge sentenced him to up to 2 1/2 years in a Nevada prison. But after the 729 days he had spent in jail awaiting trial were factored into his punishment, Foster was left to serve less than 200 additional days in state custody.
The investigation of a California woman charged with kidnapping and murdering a woman in Oregon urges caution and warning against additional victims using dating apps
Years after being charged with holding another woman captive in Nevada, a man accused of kidnapping and injuring a women in Oregon continues to be active on dating apps.
“The investigation has revealed that the suspect is actively using online dating applications to contact unsuspecting individuals who may be lured into assisting with the suspect’s escape or potentially as additional victims,” the department said, urging caution and warning that anyone who helps Foster with his escape could face prosecution.
Police said Foster might try to change his appearance by changing his hair color or shaving his beard, since those features are very hard to change, and urged the public to check his facial structure. Several photos of him with different lengths of head and facial hair were shared by them and will be more available as they become available.
A person from the Match Group said in an email that they do not have any information to confirm or deny Foster is on their platforms, but are looking into it.
Bumble told NPR over email that its team has been “working around the clock to identify any members based on the information that is available to us at this time,” and has not located anyone on the app with Foster’s full name.
“Any time we become aware of a report in the media, we proactively work to identify if the member is within our community and take swift action against their account,” it added.
Most dating apps do not run criminal background checks. As of late last year, four Match Group sites — Tinder, Match, Plenty of Fish and the single parent dating app Stir — allow users to run background checks using the platform Garbo, provided they have at least their match’s first name and phone number.
Match Group expects it to continue to roll out the feature to other brands. It also touts safety features including photo verification, anti-harassment prompts and its process for reporting users.
The anti-sexual assault nonprofit RAINN offers safety tips for anyone using dating apps to connect online or meet in person. They include: look up your potential date on social media, block and report users for suspicious behavior, don’t respond to requests for financial help, choose a public place for your first meeting and don’t rely on your date for transportation.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/01/30/1152559181/benjamin-obadiah-foster-oregon-kidnapping
A Grants Pass detective tells CNN that Foster had been arrested after being kidnapped and beaten by a woman in a Las Vegas apartment
Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman stated last week that she had been held for a “protracted period of time”. The victim and suspect had a previous domestic relationship, according to Hensman.
In 2019, before moving to Oregon, he held his then-girlfriend captive in her Las Vegas apartment for two weeks, The Associated Press reports — while he was on a suspended jail sentence for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit as well as awaiting trial in a 2018 domestic violence case.
She ran through a store and into an apartment complex when Foster distracted her to let the dog out of the car, after persuading him to take her and her dog to a grocery store.
The man accused of kidnapping and torturing a woman in southwest Oregon knew his victim, police tell CNN, as the search for the suspect continues.
Foster had already fled the scene when police arrived at a Grants Pass residence last Tuesday, where they discovered the woman had been bound and beaten until she was unconscious, according to law enforcement.
“I’ve seen a lot in my career, but some things do stick with you, and this will stay stained in my memory for many years to come,” Hensman told CNN Monday.
The police chief said investigators are still sifting through a significant amount of evidence and are following up on the many tips that the department has received.
He was facing a pending case when he was charged with assault, battery and kidnapping after his girlfriend told police that he had tied her up for two weeks and strangled her multiple times.
A week after authorities discovered a woman bound and beaten in a southwest Oregon home, the kidnapping suspect has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a CNN affiliate reports.
Grants Pass Police Department Lt. Jeff Hattersley told KTVL-TV that Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, died at a hospital hours after he was taken into custody in Grants Pass, Oregon.
The standoff was over after authorities surrounded the home where Foster was thought to be hiding and were attempting to convince him to surrender.
Hattersley didn’t confirm or deny if Foster had been arrested but said the situation had been resolved. Police said Foster had died of his injuries about an hour after they confirmed he was in custody.
Last Thursday, law enforcement raided a property in the unincorporated community of Wolf Creek, but Foster, who had been staying on family property there, slipped away. Forested mountains surround the community, but investigators believe that instead of disappearing solo into the wilderness, Foster had help getting out of the area.
The suspect had already fled when officers arrived at the scene, so a large-scale search for Foster drew in federal, state and local agents, police said.
A friend of a friend’s friend asks why she is afraid of her husband’s murder: an absolutely disgusting scene confronted by the officers
An absolutely disgusting scene confronted the officers when they responded to the call from a friend of the victim. The victim had been suffering the abuses for a long time before being discovered, he said.